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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Lifestyle
Samantha Bartlett & Marita Moloney

People wondering what the tiny pockets in a pair of jeans are for finally get an answer

If you are one of the many people who has ever pondered the function of a seemingly random part of a pair of jeans then you are in luck.

Most people who own a pair of jeans will have noticed the tiny pockets that they come with, but the majority won't know the reason for the feature.

It seems the small pockets date all the way back to 1890, when they were stitched into Levi's 'waist overall' jeans.

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They used to be commonly used for pocket watches back them, as the Daily Star reports.

Strauss and J.W. Davis patented 'Improvement in Fastening Pocket Openings,' on May 20, 1873.

Tacey Panek, Levi Strauss & Co's historian, told Insider: "The oldest pair of waist overalls in the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives (from 1879) includes the watch pocket.

"Our 19th century overalls had a single back pocket on right side of the pant beneath the leather patch."

The tiny pocket is apparently never found on suit trousers because a pocket watch would be part of the inside of a jacket for formal wear.

Seeing as not many people use pocket watches these days, it may seem a bit pointless they're still there.

However, it's actually due to sentiment with regards to WWII, as to why they are still in there.

Panek explained: "One interesting fact about the watch pocket is that during WWII the two corner rivets were removed as a way to conserve metal for the war effort."

"The rivets returned to the watch pocket after the war.

"It was riveted in the top two corners and included our recognisable arch design, called the Arcuate, stitched with a single needle sewing machine.

"The watch pocket was an original element of our blue jeans, like the rivets on our pockets, button fly, arched back pocket stitching and leather patch.

"To preserve the integrity of the early design, Levi Strauss & Co. maintains the watch pocket."

On the Levi's website, she wrote: "This cinch-free blue jean with the uniform look of the Arcuate, a contrast to previous years when the single-needle application made each Arcuate design unique, was the blue jean of the future and you can still see it in our 501 jeans more than 70 years later.

"Levi’s emerged from World War II as fresh, modern and uniformly manufactured.

"And with a distribution that now spanned oceans, it was well on its way to becoming the world’s ubiquitous global garment that it is today."

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